[ic=Ib]
"They came out of the sea like a great beast of the inky deeps, half-naked men tattooed like demons, with wicker masks, they fell upon our ship and cut down all but me. All were wild madmen but one, he was mask-less, with scars all over his face. He moved with such confidence and grace, and the wild ones stayed out of this path - in fact, one did get in his way, and he beheaded the masked man so fast, you'd think it had happened many times before. I think it was he whole left me adrift. They left me adrift, no doubt to spread the story I'm telling now."
-Paelus of Rhyll
Nicknames: The City of Tongues, the Maw, the City of Wicker
Resources: Poisons, weapons, ships, slaves, mercenaries
Type: Port City
Location: The Broken Sea
Leader: The Revealers
Population: 135,000
Gamemaster Information A strange city of sea and stone, chaos and honor, pain and ecstacy, Ib is lawless den of blood-mad corsairs, peerless beauties, unparalleled wealth, and consistent filth. Built upon a dozen isles within the Broken Sea, the Maw rises up towards the salty clouds in grand towers of wood, rope, and paper. Thin and deadly bridges sway between each Tooth - as the towered isles are called - and the treacherous waters keep all but the most skilled and knowledgeable sailors away.
Iban society is divided into two parts. The first, and most numerous, part are called the Revelers. These are the deckhands, workers, craftsmen, slaves, whores, and basically every other lower class citizen. The Revelers are wild and hedonistic mob within Ib and a murderous gang outside. The seconds are the Revealers, the wealthy captains and lords of Ib, who while at heart are just as wild and brazen, have managed to refine their tastes and emotions.
At every Iban's coming of age, a wicker mask is woven into their faces. Each mask consists of 137 different strands of fine wicker. The masks of the Revelers are kept on until every strand is removed by a Revealer, which is seen as an award for kill in battle, a successful pirating, or something that is seen as worthy be a Revealer. If every strand of the mask is removed, the Reveler is invited into the small ranks of the Revealers, and the process begins anew.
The Revealers keep the Revelers in line with three key things - loot, parties, and the drug hune-sugar. The Revealers control the ships of Ib and live in the highest parts of the Teeth in great pleasure palaces of gilded paper, lacquered wood, and colored glass floors. The Revelers live in the remains of the Teeth - winding and dangerous mazes of half-supported rooms, sudden drops, brothels, and hune-sugar dens.
Reaching the City of Tongues is difficult as it is, but any non-Reveler of Revealer is killed or taken as a slave on sight, unless they are an honored guest of a Revealer - then the whole city is free to them as they are to do anything they desire.
[/ic]
[ic=Pem Poxa]
"And so the city shone,
The half-god's house of sun and shadow."
-Poem number 56 of the Book of Melodies
Nicknames: The City of Shadow and Brass, the Half-God's City
Resources: Glass, pottery, slaves, fine weapons
Type: Port City
Location: On the Mirror Sea, between Old Dura and the Unknown South
Leader: Tyrua, the Half-God King
Population: 800,000
Gamemaster Information Never has there been a city like Pem Poxa, and never will there be after it falls. It is the largest city that has ever existed within Arga, and has withstood the assaults of armies, sand, and time for longer than anyone can remember. It repelled the war-machines of Old Dura, resisted the sorcerous tricks of Illix, and has survived the manic and mad whims of its unrivaled ruler - Tyrua, the Half-God King. It is a sprawling metropolis of black and white stone, immense brass domes, and streets sheltered from the smoldering southern sun by hanging curtains and awnings of sun-bleached cotton that rustle in the hot desert winds. Great bridges span the River of Hands that splits the city and connects the Mirror Sea and the Nevermar Ocean to the east. And above this great city floats Tyrua's throne, deep in the Palace of Splendid Shadows, build into the suspended shards of the lost moon of Vojir, held aloft only by the Half-Gods will.
Stagnated in tradition, fear, and the iron fist of its king, Pem Poxa is a city ruled by Tyrua, his priests, and the silent shroud of despair they cast upon the city. Those thought unfaithful to the Half-God are killed without hesitation, those proven unfaithful suffer far worse of a faith. Generations of Pem Poxans have come and gone, with few ever leaving the city and ever knowing of anything more than the City of Shadow and Brass.
However, the Half-God is just that - half a god, and though his black-orbed eyes constantly watch the city, he cannot see everything at once. Beneath the awnings, the domes, and fear lives a city that thrives in the shadows. Vast black markets, hidden dens of pleasures and arts and music, small shrines spirited away to the most secluded corners in order honor the gods of the outside world - all of this and more exists within the shadows of the City of the Half-God, if one is sharp enough to find it.
Yet despite the palpable fear and malice that exudes from the Palace of Splendid Shadow, Pem Poxans are a proud and patriotic people. Those of the outside world see them as brainwashed zealots, although this could not be farther from the truth. The greatest allies of the Pem Poxans are themselves - embittered and emboldened from ages of iron rule by an alien liege, they have withstood hardships that would have broken other cities and kingdoms.
Pem Poxa has perhaps reached the point where it has outgrown its tyrant. Rumors are whispered on silent tongues that change is coming, that the Half-Gods time is nearing an end, and the reign of a great empire of mankind is to be born, with the City of Shadow and Brass at its heart...
[/ic]
[ic=Old Dura]
"On the morn of the morrow, I descend into Mhala Ghear. I doubt if I shall ever return."
-Last journal entry of Jhael Khargus, Duran Gear-Breaker
Nicknames: The Rusted Wastes, Mhala Ghear
Resources: Ancient machinery, relics, scrap metal
Type: Wasteland
Location: Between the Mirror and Argent Seas
Leader: None
Population: Unknown
Gamemaster Information The ancestral home of the Dura, the ancient heart of their once grand empire, and the eventual spot of their races near-extermination, Old Dura is a place both feared and explored. It is the great tempter of Arga as it sits silently, daring those to descend into it's tangled forests of rusted iron frames, it's putrid swamps of gurgling chemicals and oil, it's red-hued deserts of rusted iron dust, it's cold metal caves where the blood-mad automatons wait and plot in their moments of lucid evil.
The history of this land is both well-known and little understood. A bastion of science and technology until the Maddening set the automatons upon their Duran masters, driving them to the literal edge of the world. Yet still no one knows why or how this even happened. Today, a rare and honored sect of Durans, called the Gear-Breakers, descend into the Rusted Wastes - what they call Mhara Ghear - to do battle with the machines that nearly extinguished their people.
The single city of Merluna rests upon its shores, out of reach of marauding automatons as it sits on its islands, behind massive crimson walls. It is no secret that if the mad power of Old Dura could sweep across Arga in a tide of iron and blood. But luckily for the mortals of the world, some unknown force keeps the automatons trapped within the confines of Old Dura like some invisible wall.
Despite the dangers of this rusted land, the treasures and secrets that Old Dura holds within her iron bosom draw an untold number of explorers, artificers, and adventures, from which few ever return. The gravity of treasures such as arc-weapons, phase-carapaces, and items of much greater power and ability continue to call to those both curious and ambitious.
[/ic]
[ic=Fell]
"By the Saints it's cold."
-Kala Ter of Penda
Nicknames: The Iron City, the Rimed City
Resources: Weapons, slaves, illegal things
Type: Port City
Location: Southern Norsund
Leader: The Bone-Speaker Council
Population: 50,000
Gamemaster Information
The northern most city of Arga, Fell deserves its title as the Iron City in every aspect. A heavy city built like a fortress with gray and black stone, iron frames and buttresses support towers studded with spikes and blades. Fell sits ominously and silently, persevering the whipping, salty spray of the Endless Ocean. While it lacks the grandeur of Merluna, the age of Pem Poxa, the hedonism of Ib, or the fervor of Penda, Fell makes up for it by being a city where draconian law rules supreme. Named the Iron City not only for the metal that girds it's towers, but for the the cold laws the gird it's peoples.
Fell is not so much ruled as it is locked-down. The Bone-Speaker Council - a scheming and sagacious circle - writes, codifies, and executes the uncountable laws of the Marrow Codex and distributes justice as it sees fit - stockades, gallows, and guillotines are common sights in the most docile district. Fell, as one would expect, is a dreary and disheartening place. The Council also maintains its power through complex propaganda schemes, creating a distrusting and thoroughly xenophobic populace. Native Norsunders, who the Fell see as bringers of chaos and wanton destruction, are killed on site within the city walls and bounty squads often scour the nearby lands for Norsunder scalps.
Three days journey from edge of the city sits the Hall of Hushed Screams - the citadel of the Athemancers. Only a single, windowless tower of strange green-black metal sits upon the earth, as most of the structure lies deep underground. An eerie labyrinth of metallic halls, bottomless chasms, and thick fog, the Hall is a place heavy with silence and shadows. While they profess no interest in the affairs of this world, let alone of Fell, it is doubtful that they have no stake in the Iron City. Many rumors are whispered that the Bone-Speakers are merely puppets of the masters of the Hall and that the Athemancers have agents spread throughout the city, and that far beneath the surface, there exist chambers and cells that hold secrets far too dangerous for mortal minds, and that the Athemancers frequently steal people from the shadowy streets of Fell for unspeakable reasons.[/ic]